Life aboard the six IMOCA boats in The Ocean Race has gone from hard to harder over the past day, as strong winds and a brutal sea state combine to create one of the toughest stretches of the transatlantic leg yet.
The strong winds are pushing the boats along at big speeds, which sounds like good news. It isn't, not entirely. The wind and sea state angles have combined to create about the most uncomfortable environment possible for a transatlantic passage, and it's taking a toll.
Sleep has become almost impossible to come by. The workload required to keep sailing fast and safe is high, and breakdowns are starting to bite.
Team Malizia felt it hardest. Boris Herrmann's crew had led for most of the race until an overnight collision with something in the water damaged their port foil system.
"We hit something at high speed with our port foil and heard a big noise and found some damage on the foil system," Herrmann said on Saturday morning. "So we slowed down the boat to work on a solution. Now we're going again but with slight limitations on how we can use our foil so let's see how well we go. I'm not quite sure yet. But the team did really well working together to sort out this issue."
The repair cost Malizia the lead. The new Malizia 4, often the fastest boat in the fleet, has slipped to fourth on distance to finish. Ahead of them now sit Team Francesca Clapcich powered by 11th Hour Racing, United by the Ocean, and the DMG MORI Sailing Team.
For Francesca Clapcich, getting 11th Hour Racing to the front of a faster rival hasn't been straightforward.
"They had really high speeds at some points," she said of Malizia. "I don't think it was so much about tactical decisions or strategic positioning because I think we are doing a pretty good job on that. They had just been faster."
Everyone out there is feeling it.
"We're just bashing along in this sea state," said Sara Stone on United by the Ocean. "Everyone is trying to hang on and go fast and sleep when they can... but it's impossible because we keep getting launched in the air every few seconds."
"It's not easy to find sleep," agreed co-skipper Paul Meilhat. "But when you're tired, you sleep!"
"It's crazy... Life on board is hard. Some strong winds and reaching angles. It's really tough. We've put some helmets on for safety. Just trying to hang on... Send us good vibes!!" said Clapcich from on board 11th Hour Racing.
Sam Davies, on DMG MORI Global One, gave the clearest picture of the speeds involved. "Today we are reaching, 90-degree true wind angle and up to 30 knots of wind," she explained. "It's bumpy and noisy but we're really sending it. Our average speed is around 27 knots. It's going to be like this for another day and a half. No one is getting much sleep but I think that's the same on all the boats."
Oliver Heer, skipper of Embrace the Challenge, was frank about the toll. "We're all exhausted, tired, stressed... It is very difficult to sail and live on these boats in conditions this sporty but we're out here enjoying it having a good time together," he said. "I think we've shown we have good pace (for an older generation boat) so there is a performance difference but it's not impossible to overcome in certain situations. This race is a fantastic learning platform for us, to get out in these conditions, racing in this fleet, is very valuable for us."
There was at least one bright spot amid the grind. Saturday's Super Sprint went to Kojiro Shiraishi on DMG MORI Global One, his first win in the format, drawing his team level with Team Malizia atop the Super Sprint leaderboard. DMG MORI Sailing Team has had a strong run over the past day or so, and is now pushing hard for the race lead.
